With such good results running a DC blockade on my amps—click here for previous review of the Two 1R—I got curious about Cliff's powerline conditioners. We thus arranged for a Three 11R to land in Villeneuve. That's his biggest baddest unit combining DC filtering, 11 outlets and inductive noise filtering for 8 of them. "Changing the subject slightly, Matthieu told me in Munich that Nagra's designer had been having serious problems with his laboratory equipment giving false readings due to interference. Matthieu decided to let him try a Vibex power filter block with DC filter to connect all his test gear to. The result? All the problems disappeared and he now gets the precise readings he relies on. I've seen similar results using Vibex on delicate hospital equipment. One hospital here in Spain has independent power lines to their scanners. They found that with a Vibex they got far superior images on their monitors, allowing them to diagnose possible health problems far more accurately. I know that these examples have nothing to do with hifi but it's still interesting to me how such a wide range of equipment benefits from better power filtering. If just one more life could be saved by better diagnosis, a Vibex would be worth its weight in gold to me. I've now been asked to design a DC filter for a hospital CAT scanner. I'm not sure if I'll do it as power consumption is around 60 kilowatts but I'm sure it'd improve the scanner's resolution by a large margin."

Measuring 32 x 13 x 4cm and again delivering 3.700VA with >100dB of RFI/EMI suppression, the Three 11R uses the same sandwich case construction here executed in five layers and Rhodium plugs. "Krion is a very resistant material
capable of being machined to close tolerances with exquisite finish.
Being a non-porous solid has many benefits including
that any surface scratches can be easily polished out.
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Krion is its ability to control and
dissipate energy in ways no other material in my experience can.
After many years of testing and comparing materials to secure the best balance
of qualities, Krion has shown how limited nearly all other materials are in
controlling and screening mechanical and
airborne interferences.

A bar made out of Krion.Krion is a proprietary composite developed by Systempool, a subsidiary of Porcelanosa. It consists of 2/3rd aluminium trihydrate and resin binders. It can be machined, thermo curved or injection molded.

"Like any other material Krion works more efficiently for our purposes when combined with
elastomers and internal labyrinths that avoid accumulated energy at any
one chassis point. Our combination of hollow machining and elastomers is
critical to not over- or underdamp and produce a
sound that's too lifeless or overly energetic. Silence is the reference point from where to begin a power delivery design. The quieter it is, the more
information we can retrieve above our system's noise floor. But a very low noise floor obtained by overdamping will destroy dynamic
contrasts. Any final material combination must
react extremely quickly to power line changes. It's essential that dissipated
energy be controlled to avoid any partial energy
return which would mix with the mains power we want to purify. Uncontrolled energy is clearly audible as smearing and lack of phase
stability. Plus any micro detail lost can never be retrieved again."

"We also don't dump noise to ground as most filters do. We believe that the ground must be kept as pristine as possible. Testing quickly shows how important it is not to filter to
earth.
The earth connection is far more efficient when it doesn't become a garbage dump. The system noise floor is much lower if the ground is kept clean. We use a symmetrical power-filter coil* designed and manufactured in-house.
As with every part in our designs this coil was fine-tuned
by ear. We listened to many different ways of winding, then adjusted the best one by
removing or adding half turns until we obtained the best results."
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